Coronavirus LIVE: 4,969 new Covid-19 cases, 27 deaths in Kerala in a day

The government is making all efforts to support and promote the development of vaccines for Covid-19, but there is a need to strengthen cold chain logistics

1:53 AM

France's coronavirus epidemic trend raises concern, says official

Jerome Salomon, the French director for public health, said the evolution of the coronavirus outbreak in his country was concerning, after incidence almost doubled since last week.

 

"In France, the evolution of the epidemic is concerning. There is a tendency toward increased circulation of the virus," he told reporters at a weekly press conference.

 

France recorded 18,254 new cases in the previous 24-hour period, up from a daily 10,000 seen last week. The French government hopes to contain the spread of the virus at 5,000 new cases a day.

1:20 AM

Assam sees 106 new cases

12:50 AM

Nagaland reports 33 fresh Covid cases

The detection of 33 fresh cases of coronavirus infection raised Nagaland's tally to 11,820 on Thursday, health department officials said.

 

In a tweet, Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangnyu Phom said, "33 +ve cases of # COVID-19 have been detected today. Kohima- Mokokchung- 13 each, Tuensang- 6, Mon- 1. Also, 76 +ve patients have recovered. Kohima- 64, Tuensang- 6, Wokha- 4, Zunheboto- 2."

 

The caseload includes 11,071 recovered people while 547 are active patients, he said.

11:36 PM

Jharkhand coronavirus update

10:20 PM

1,584 new coronavirus cases in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh's Covid-19 case count rose to 2,63,485 on Thursday as 1,584 new cases of infection came to light, a health official said.

 

With 11 more fatalities, the death toll due to the pandemic in the state reached 3,156, he said.

9:16 PM

Maharashtra coronavirus update

Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally rose to 18,84,773 on Thursday with the addition of 3,880 fresh cases, while more than 4,350 patients recovered from the infection, said a state health department official.

 

The state also reported 65 more deaths, taking the fatality count to 48,499, he said.

 

A total of 4,358 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the tally of recovered people to 17,74,255, the official said.

 

With this, the number of patients currently under treatment stood at 60,905, he said.

9:02 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Punjab records 449 fresh Covid-19 cases, 15 more deaths

Punjab's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 1,61,831 on Thursday with 449 fresh infections and the death toll climbed to 5,150 as 15 more people succumbed to the disease, according to a medical bulletin. Of the latest fatalities, three each were reported from Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar, two each from Gurdaspur, Kapurthala and Patiala, and one each from Ludhiana, Mohali and Sangrur, the bulletin said.

 

There are 6,045 active COVID-19 cases in the state, it said. Of the 449 fresh cases, 106 were reported from Mohali, 62 from Jalandhar and 52 from Ludhiana, among other districts.

 

A total of 629 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of cured persons to 1,50,636, the bulletin said. Fifteen critical patients are on ventilator support, while 116 are on oxygen support, it said. So far, 36,09,574 samples have been collected for testing in the state, it said.

8:49 PM

Haryana reports 17 more coronavirus deaths, 714 fresh cases

Haryana on Thursday reported 17 more coronavirus deaths, taking the death toll to 2,782, even as 714 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,55,728. According to the state health department's daily bulletin, the fatalities include four each from Faridabad and Panipat and three from Yamunanagar district.

 

Among the districts which reported a big spike in cases include Gurgaon (108) and Faridabad (165). The state's active cases stand at 7,013, while the recovery rate is 96.17 per cent.

8:23 PM

Health ministry, Niti Aayog officials likely to meet EC top brass over Covid-19 vaccine distribution

Officials of the Union health ministry and the Niti Aayog are likely to meet the Election Commission top brass in the coming days to seek their help in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine given the poll panel's robust network at the booth level, sources aware of the development said on Thursday. They said the officials have sought a meeting with the EC top brass to understand the process at the grass-roots level.

 

During the planned meeting, the health ministry and Niti Aayog could seek EC's help in distributing the vaccine to the right person and the poll panel's experience in managing voters at the booth level during massive electoral exercises could come in handy. By successfully holding the Bihar assembly polls recently amid the coronavirus pandemic, the EC has proved the robustness of its system, the sources pointed out.

 

According to guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination drive, the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be used to identify the priority population over the age of 50 years. Twelve identity documents, such as Voter ID, Aadhar card, driving licence, passport and pension document, will be required for beneficiary identification.

7:55 PM

4,969 new Covid-19 positive cases, 4,970 recoveries, 27 deaths in Kerala today

Kerala's COVID-19 tally climbed to 6.88 lakh and the toll to 2,734 with the addition of 4,969 new cases and 27 deaths, including that of a centenarian. As many as 4,970 people joined the list of cured, taking the cumulative recoveries to 6,27,364, Health Minister K K Shailaja said. A total of 58,155 people were presently undergoing treatment for the disease, the minister said in a release. The overall infection count in the state has touched 6,88,409.

 

A 100-year old man from Kollam was among the latest fatalities, she said.

 

In the last 24 hours, a sum of 60,851 samples were sent for testing and the test positivity rate was 8.17 per cent. So far, 71,79,051 samples have been sent for testing. Of the positive cases, as many as 47 are health care workers, 99 had come from outside the state and 4,282 infected through contact. At least 2,96,747 people were under observation in various districts with 13,358 of them in hospitals, the release added.